The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-15
NEW WORKERS GO FOR COMFORT.
some OF the Methods Adopted to Keep
Cool

some OF the Methods Adopted to Keen
Cool
NEW YORK, Ang. 13.-Apparently the
men of New York have determined to
throw fashion to the winds this summer
and settle down to honest comfort. The
boom was begun among the swells. those
VINO can do anything in the matter of dress
ana be pretty sure to have a large follow
ing. The attack was made first upon the
walstcoat, ard in the early part of the sum
ner wealthy young men began to parade
tne streets without this article of clothing
hitherto deemed SO necessary
The coats were worn osteptatiously omen
and revealed plated full dress shirts of i'm
maculate whiteness, in which nestled three
PLAIN gold studs The lower half of a four
INLAND necktie was gracefully tucked in
the 'front.' opening of the shirt so as not to
hide the topmost stud. The result was not
unSeemly
New Workers have a great prejudice
against anything that lacks stvle The ma
}orlty OF the men would rather have their
heads severed from their shoulders on the
sharp edges of four-inch standing collar
than he considered behind the fashion.
lney don't object to swetering behind the
Stlitest shirt bosom, but would be Mortified
at single glance of diSapproval from those
persons who are known to lead the STYLES.
They are always ready, however, to adopt
any new idea that is graceful and has the
sanction of society. The shirt bosom there
Tore came into prominence and the waist
coat disappeared
The next move toward comfort met with
strong resistance The leaders were not
unanimous and, besides, it was a blow at
the most sacred part of a mans attire-the
white shirt itself. In its place a flannel
shirt was to worn. 1t took long time
to convice small minority that with the
thermometer fluctuating between 90 and
100 IN the shade the starch in a collar and
shirt bosom would not remain firm for more
than three hours; and that a flannel shirt
was therefore much more beautiful, not to
say convenient, than the boiled shirt
The leaders of the crusade We're deter
mined, however, and the new garment
slowly won favor. 1t would hardly have
been thorough success even then had not
some of the writers for the press lent their
aid. One morning the Sun printed a letter
from an anonymous writer, showing the
advantage of the flannel shirt, and contrast
ing it favorably with a limp linen collar
and shirt bosom. All the papers took it up
and doomed it editorially. Hardly day
passed without some sheer at the "biled''
shirt.
The spectacle of man with handker-
chief stuffed inside his collar to keep the
perspiration from spelling its stiffness was
held up to derision. People laughed, adj
mitted the corn and the flannel shirt was a
success. It became all the rage, and timid
persons who still chung to the white shirt
were looked upon with pity by the enthu-
siastic wearers of the flannel shirt The
stores that supply mems apparel could not
meet the sudden demand. Tailors were
kept busy cutting them. They were made
in all colors and patterns, and in a short
time the most dignifed and the most frivo-
lous of men moved about in ease and com-
fort.
The style has kept up and is continually
growing, and the movement toward COM
fort if the hot weather continues is likely to
be pushed to the extreme. Already the
stores are beginning to display new inven-
tons in hats and coats and trousers of white
flannel, pongee silk and other airy materials
are ostentatiouSly pushed to the foreground
in the show windows. The latest notion,
though, and one that has not not been OBJ
served outside of the upper ten, is the cum
merabund.
One night last week attended hop at a
fashionable hotel in one of the nearby sum-
mer resorts. Many of the exclusive young
men of New York society were present. l
was surprised to see that they wore no
waistcoats. In their stead was worn what
looked like a strip of bed sheet wound
around the middle of the body. 1t was
about fourteen inches wide and contained a
number of creases and folds, apparently the
result of accident and not of design. Upon
closer scrutiny l observed that the material
was similar to pongee silk and was quite be-
coming.
1t was the cummerabund, and, from pres
ent indications it will be all the go and may
even result in entirely displacing the full
evening vest during the summer 1t is a
strip of India silk, from which it derives its
name, somewhat over two yards in length
and of the width mentioned. This is wound
around the middle of the body in such
manner as to conceal the junction of the
shirt with the trousers and also to hide the
suSpenders. The ends are tucked under out
of sight.
1t is much cooler than a waistcoat and
does not touch the upper part of the body.
They are worn in solid colors, either dark
or light The cost of one ready made
ranges from SIS to S25, but the silk itself
can be bought and satisfactorily arranged
for one-quarter of that sum.
CHARLES j. ROSEBAULT